A PRESSURE group has criticised West Mercia Police for charging a man allegedly caught wearing a t-shirt mocking the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy.

Paul Grange, aged 50, from Worcester, has been charged with a Section 5 Public Order offence, relating to the display of threatening and abusive signs and writing, likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

But The Freedom Association, a group which campaigns for individual freedom of expression, says "no crime has been committed".

A photograph of the back of a man sitting in the pub garden of the Brewers Arms in Comer Road, St John's, Worcester, on Sunday afternoon sparked outrage worldwide after it was posted across social media sites.

The black t-shirt refers to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people died, and allegedly states the tragedy was "God's way" of aiding a pest control company.

West Mercia Police has confirmed it does not comment about legal proceedings which are currently active.

Andrew Allison, head of campaigns at the association, said: "West Mercia Police are not there to decide what is offensive and what isn't offensive. When you start doing that, you get into very shady ground.

"They are setting a dangerous precedent for themselves because other people can come along and say someone has caused me distress, therefore I want you to investigate. Where do we set the bar?

"As vile as it is, it is not inciting anyone to kill anyone or to maim anyone so to me it is in the acceptable parameters of freedom of speech.

"No crime has been committed, he is just exercising his right to be offensive. As much as I dislike it, I'm using my right to freedom of speech to criticise him.

"We live in a free society, we still have a free press, this is the way people should do it. If he has got any sense he would think again before doing anything like that.

"Someone has printed that t-shirt, I would imagine. How far do you go in this - do we say that the business that printed it should be charged?"

However, Mr Allison said Mark Daniels, the landlord of the Brewers Arms, acted "entirely properly".

He said: "The pub landlord acted entirely properly, ejected the man when he realised things were going wrong. That was entirely, entirely right.

"The vast majority of people think he is completely wrong. If he is on social media I imagine he is really getting it now."